00:00Williams says the report exposes weaknesses in the country's security and monitoring systems
00:05and as such the state needed to examine these allegations. We are calling for a microscopic
00:11examination of the trafficking in persons report of the U.S. 2025 which states that there were
00:18corrupt senior governmental officials in 2023 and 2020 involved in illegal trafficking and
00:24transnational crimes as well as the counter trafficking units what exactly have they
00:31achieved with the money given to them by whichever foreign government as well as a conclusion to the
00:37a conclusion into all the heinous crimes that happened at the helpful detention center. He also
00:45points out that the report cited allegations of minors being trafficked and sexually exploited
00:50which needed the government's attention. He says the government must also pay attention to regional
00:56threats citing recent tensions and incidents involving Venezuelan nationals as our proximity to
01:03the South American continent could have disastrous impacts on Trinidad and Tobago. That's all the
01:09interest it is that um any sort of war with Venezuela can be right it has the great ability to destabilize
01:16our country. He recalls that last month a Venezuelan national fired shots into the air in Storbe Tobago
01:24and when arrested he gave his name as Roger Alexander the same name of this country's homeland security
01:31minister. This he says is alarming on several levels including the possibility that there could be
01:38Venezuelan operatives in this country already acting against its interests. So that we simply won't know
01:44if there are any Venezuelan operatives in Trinidad and Tobago that may wish to destabilize our country.
01:50So that could be a plausible reason for the rush by the Minister of Homeland Security to ensure we know
01:57exactly who is in our country. Despite this Williams says that while the public ought to be attentive
02:05it ought not to be concerned just yet. Human rights activist Yesena Gonzalez claims human trafficking
02:11continues to thrive in Trinidad and Tobago. They're using them selling them so it's a big market in
02:18Trinidad. Trinidad is actually the place where any criminal who trafficking women or the white collar crime
02:29they know Trinidad and Tobago is the best place to negotiate to sell them. She says victims often fear
02:37reporting their cases to the police. Most of the time the victims are afraid of the police to make a report
02:47because the police will tell them in the station you are a prostitute you are not a victim
02:52and instead of helping them they arrest them and they put them in jail and send them back.
02:58Both Williams and Gonzalez say transparency and accountability are essential to tackling human
03:03trafficking and restoring trust in the country's efforts to protect vulnerable people. Alexander Bruiswall, TV6 News
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